Like any sport with deep roots in culture, surfing has it’s own language. If you’re new to surfing it might take a while to pick up surfer slang but this list of surfing terms should help you know your groms from your kooks and your close outs from your rail bangs.
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360 – a surf move consisting of turning the surfboard at a 360-degree angle while on the face of a wave
A-frame – a wave shaped like a peak that breaks both left and right, equally
Aggro – aggressive surfing/surfer
Air/Aerial – is a maneuver in which the board leaves the surface or the water/wave
Akaw! – awesome, cool
Amped – feeling excited, pumped up
Ankle busters – waves that are too small to ride
Backdoor – going inside a tube/barrel, also known as the curl of the wave, from behind its peak
Bailing – Jumping off your board into the water in order to avoid a bad encounter
Barney – a surfer that is not cool, untalented, rookie
Barrel – a tube, the curl of the wave, the hollow part of a wave when it is breaking, and one of the most sought after things in surfing
Beach break – the places where the waves break over sandbars
Benny – a person who is not a local
Bitchin’ – awesome, amazing, great
Body board – a small surfing board, also known as a booger, a boogie board
Bomb – a massive wave
Bottom turn – a turn that is made at the bottom of the wave; a very important maneuver that sets the tone for the ride
Break – when the swell of the water breaks, turning into waves and white water
Bro – dude, brother, surfer
Carve – a maneuver that is sharp turn on the face of the wave
Caught inside – being caught between the shoreline and the breaking waves
Charging – aggressively going for a wave
Choppy – rough waves due to wind conditions
Clean wave – a smooth wave, with no bumps
Closeout – when a wave breaks suddenly and all at once
Clucked – being scared of waves
Crease – damage to the surfboard by impact
Crest – the highest point of a wave, the top of the wave
Curl – the area of the wave where it is breaking
Cutback – a surf move done sharply in the shoulder or the wave or on its flats to get back on the surf line
Cutting off – the action of catching a wave in front of a surfer, who was going for it and was closer to it, stealing a wave; also known as snaking
Dawn patrol – going surfing first thing in the morning
Deck – the top surface of a surfboard
Dick drag – a derogatory term referring to the action of lying down on your board while riding a wave
Ding – any damage done to your surfboard
Double up/humpback – when two waves combine; one large wave closely followed by a smaller one
Drop – the first part of a ride, when the surfer goes down the face of the wave
Drop in – synonym to cutting off but also to drop down the face of a wave
Duck Diving – diving under a breaking wave, ducking your body and the surfboard under a breaking wave
Dude – a surfer, a friend
Dumping – waves that are break hard, are hollow and not surfable
Epic – great surf session, awesome wave, top surf
Eskimo roll – a surf move that gets the surfer through a large wave or a broken wave without being washed to shore
Face – the part of the wave that has yet to break, where most rides take place
Fade – when a surfer puts themselves into the most powerful part of the wave
Far out! – great, amazing, spectacular
Firing – fun surf
Flat – no surf, no waves
Floater – a surf move where the surfer rides the top of the wave, then drops back into the main part of the wave
Foam – the material surfboards are made of and it also signifies the white water/bubbles that occurs when a wave breaks
Foamies – waves made of foam
Forehand/ front side – surfing with your back to the beach and your face to the wave
Frube – a surfer who does not manage to catch a wave for the entire time they are in the water
Funboard – medium-length surfboard
Glassy – smooth, when referring to the water
Gnarly – nasty, unpleasant
Goat boater – a surf ski
Going off – great surf, as in “It’s just going off today, dude!”
Goofy foot – when a surfer’s right foot is forward and the left is in the back, while on the surfboard
Green room – the inside of a barrel
Grom – a young and inexperienced surfer; also known as grommet
Grubbing – falling off the surfboard while surfing
Gun – a big wave surfboard
Hang Eleven – used to describe a made surfer who rides naked
Hang Five – riding a surfboard with one foot placed on the nose of the board
Hang Loose – the salutation that accompanies the sign of Shaka
Hang Ten – riding a surfboard with both feet placed on the nose of the board
Header – to fall off a surfboard
Heavy – big, awesome waves
Helicopter – a surf move where the surfers spins their surfboard around from its nose
Hit the lip – when a surfer turns up their surfboard to hit the falling lip of the wave, allowing the surfboard to be smashed down
Hodad – a person who hangs around the beach and does not surf
Hollow – barrels, tubes
Impact zone – the place where the waves are breaking the hardest
Inside – the place between the shore and the impact zone
Into the soup – inside the foam, the white water
Jacking – when the wave swells rapidly, from deep waters to shallow ones
Jake – a surfer who inadvertently is in the way of more experienced surfers
Juice – the power of the wave
Junkyard dog – a surfer with poor style
Keg – a barrel, a tube
Kick out – finishing the ride by going over the back or through the wave
Kickflip – rotating the surfboard 360 degrees, while in the air
Kneeboard – a special type of board meant for riding on knees
Kook – a rookie surfer or someone who isn’t very good at surfing
Layback – laying backwards on the wave
Leash – the piece of material that ties the leg to the surfboard
Left – a wave that breaks on the left of the surfer, from the peak
Line up – the area in the water, away from the swell, where the surfers await to get their turn at catching a wave
Lines – the swell, when it is approaching the shore
Lip – the upper-most part of a wave, right before it breaks
Localism – hostility shown by local surfers towards non-local surfers
Locked in – when a surfer gets caught inside a crashing wave
Longboard – a surfboard with a round nose that is at least 8 foot long
Lull – the moment of calm between swells
Macking – huge waves breaking
Making the drop – catching a wave and sitting on the lower part of the wave’s shoulder
Maxed out –waves that are too large to break without closing out
Men in grey suits – sharks
Messy – irregular and unpredictable waves
Mullering – wiping out
Mush/Mushburger – soft non-surfable waves, without any energy
Namer – a surfer who shares a secret surf spot with others
New school – trick surfing
Noah – shark
Noodle arms – tired arms
Nose – the front and pointed part of the surfboard
Nose guard – a rubber tip meant to protect the nose of the surfboard
Nose riding – a longboarding move where the person surfs on the nose of the board
Nug – a good wave
Off the lip – re-entry
Offshore – winds that are blowing from the shore towards the ocean
Onshore – winds that are blowing from the ocean towards the shore
Out back – beyond the place where the waves break
Outside – the place beyond the lineup
Outside break – the furthest place from the shore where the waves are still breaking
Over the falls – refers to when a surfer goes over the lip and into the face of the wave
Overgunned – when the board is inappropriate for the surfing conditions
Overhead – when a wave is higher than an average surfer
Paddlepuss – a person who plays in the white water and is afraid to stray from the beach
Party wave – a wave that several people are surfing
Peak – the highest point of a breaking waves that generates both left and right surfable shoulders
Pearl – when a surfers buried the nose of their surfboard into the wave
Peeling – when a wave breaks perfectly
Pig dog – a position that reflects the surfer grabbing onto the rails while inside a barrel
Pintail – a surfboard tail shape that is perfect for hollow surfing
Pit – the barrel of a large and strong wave
Pocket – the power pocket of a barrel or powerful wave and where you want to position yourself
Point break – a type of wave that is found around a point of land, a coastline with a headland
Pop up – the move surfers make to move from lying on the surfboard to standing up to surf
Pull in – turning the surfboard up to enter a barrel
Pumping – decent surfing conditions
Quimby – a beginner surfer who is usually annoying
Quiver – a surfer’s surfboard collection
Racy – a fast surfable wave
Rad/radical – awesome and impressive surfing
Rails – the sides of the board
Rail bang – to take a surfboard between the legs, while falling
Raked over – to be pounded by strong waves when paddling out to catch a wave
Re-entry – when a surfers goes through or over the lip of the wave and then goes back in
Regular footed – a surfer who surfs with their left foot forward (this means that they don’t face the wave on lefts)
Ricos – rich, perfect
Right – wave that breaks on the right of the surfer, from the peak
Riptide – a stretch of water that is particularly turbulent
Rock dance – the moves made by surfers who exit the water through a rocky section
Rocker – the curve under the surfboard
Section – the location in the water, where the waves aren’t breaking and where surfers are waiting their turn to advance and ride
Set – a series of waves that are approaching the line up
Shacked – riding a great, big barrel
Photo: Chris Hunkeler
Shaka – a sign surfers use, made from extending the thumb and the little finger
Shape – a word used to rate the quality of the breaking waves (perfect shape is when the wave breaks evenly)
Shore break/ shorepound – mostly unsurfable waves that break very right on the shore
Shoulder – the part of the breaking wave that is unbroken
Shove-it – the action of moving the surfboard (180 or 360 degrees) under the surfer, while riding a wave
Shubie – a person who buys a surfboard and surf clothing, but does not surf
Sick – astounding, impressive, amazing
Sketchy – bad form when surfing
Slotted – a surfer well-positioned inside a barrel
Soft board – a surfboard with a soft surface, meant for beginners
Soup – white water
Spat out – the action that occurs when a surfer exits a barrel alongside air and foamy water
Spit – the water that gets sprayed out from a barrel
Sponger – derogatory term for body boarder
Stall – a surf move meant to slow down the surfboard
Stick – a surfboard
Stoked – pumped, extremely happy, excited
Sucking dry – the action performed by powerful breaking waves, causing the sea bed to become exposed
Surf camp – surf vacation with accommodation included, where an instructor teaches surfing
Surfer’s knots – swellings on the back side of the leg, below the knee, as a result of kneeling on the surfboard waiting for a wave
Swell/groundswell – surfable waves
Tail – the back side of the board
Take off – to catch a wave
Through – the bottom of the wave as it starts breaking
Tombstoning – when the surfer is wiped out and sinking below the surface and their surfboard is bobbing up and down connected to them through a leash
Tow in – used by big wave surfers, it refers to being towed in by a jet ski to the place where the big waves are
Tube – barrel, the hollow of the wave
Tubular – awesome, great, rad
Turtle roll – a technique used to get the surfboard to go through a breaking wave; it implies hanging on to the rails, turning over so that the surfer is fully submerged and the fins of the surfboard become visible.
Twin fin – a twin fin surfboard
Wall – a face of the wave that has no area to ride on
Washing machine – getting rolled around underwater by a breaking wave
Wave hog – a surfer who will not share a wave
Wax – the substance surfers use on their surfboard to help with traction
White water – a broken, foamy wave
Wipe out – falling off a wave while surfing
Worked – getting knocked off by a wave and then being in the washing machine
This glossary of surfer slang was pulled together by Cristina, the community manager from BookSurfCamps.com, a themed travel website offering a vast collection of surf camps and holidays. She is also a passionate traveler, cat aficionado and novice writer.
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